The rise of crypto assets and decentralized finance has challenged traditional regulatory frameworks, particularly in the area of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism ("AML/CFT")....more
7/29/2025
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Markets ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
Following the recent focus on two major regulatory frameworks—the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (known as the GENIUS Act) in the United States, and Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the...more
7/28/2025
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Stablecoins ,
The GENIUS Act
In Short -
The Situation: France has had a registration and licensing process for digital assets service providers for over three years. The recent crisis with Terra Luna and FTX trading platform has made it clear to...more
In Short -
The Situation: Regulatory "sandboxes" are trending. They represent a unique approach to regulation that permits selected companies to test and experiment with new and innovative products and services....more
The Situation: On January 4, 2021, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") issued an Interpretive Letter permitting national banks and federal savings associations ("Banks") to participate in independent node...more
1/19/2021
/ Banking Sector ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Interpretive Letters ,
OCC ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins
The Situation: The requirement for a paper-based note for issuing securities under the German law has been an obstacle for the use of security tokens in Germany. With the release of a draft bill (the "Bill") permitting the...more
The Situation: Following the enactment earlier in 2019 of new French legislation to regulate activities related to digital assets (including cryptocurrency but excluding tokenized securities), final regulatory provisions were...more
1/2/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Statements ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
The Situation: ICOs and digital assets have become a new phenomenon that has impacted many aspects of our modern economies and created an alternative way of financing for start-ups or small and medium-sized...more
5/29/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Criminal Sanctions ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Instruments ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Registration Requirement ,
Token Sales
The Court Decision: On September 25, 2018, the Higher Regional Court of Berlin held that bitcoins would not qualify as financial instruments for the purposes of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz, "KWG"), thus...more
11/1/2018
/ BaFin ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
German Banking Act ,
Germany ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
MiFID II ,
Securities Regulation ,
Token Sales
The Situation: Delayed by two months, the long-awaited bill of President Macron's government relating to economic reforms and simplification of companies' day-to-day operations was tabled to the Cabinet on June 22, 2018....more
7/2/2018
/ Capital Markets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
Financial Collateral Directive (FCD) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Investment ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
President Macron ,
Privatization ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Management ,
UK Brexit